485C (photo credit – Rhona Murphy, artist’s Facebook page)
It’s Thursday, so Unknown Pleasures is here with your guide to all things sonically subterranean, and Getintothis’ Mike Stanton is your chaperone.
485C are an emerging force in the indie-rock world and have released their latest single Kapow! on Fierce Panda Records.
Consisting of Adam Hume (vocals), Dom Watson (guitar/vocals), Lucas Hunt (drums), Rory McGowan (guitar/backing vocals) and Sam Watkins (bass/backing vocals), they strike a sound and feel drawing from the past while remaining fresh and contemporary.
Fun, driving with a cracking riff, Kapow! is easily-accessible rock for driving with the top down and squinting into the lowering sun. It arrives and departs swiftly with pin-wheeling guitars, equable vocals and dreamy harmonies, too smooth to be all-out rock but gritty enough to sail above indie waters.
As the title suggests it’s punchy and to-the-point, riffing with a sudden burst of energy and hints at the potential live sound these guys can unleash. Expect big things from the boys throughout 2018.
Kapow! is out now.
Mary and the Ram (Picture credit – Scot Greenwell)
Mary and the Ram seem to have found a niche and sound that will resonate with a wide spectrum of listeners taking in such diverse genres as psychedelia, rock, industrial, art-punk and electronica.
The Cross, an all-too-short but equally sweet two minutes thirty-eight seconds, is a moody, downtempo atmospheric snarler that beats with the dark fire of a fever-dream. The piano-led riff drives the track as synths swirl around subtle arrangements and a heavily distorted voice hinting at the underlying atmosphere of menace.
Produced by John Fryer, whose pedigree is impeccable (Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins) this new single delivers passionate, cathartic, concept driven electronic rock.
It’s perhaps Fryer who has masterfully created a feeling of claustrophobia emphasized by a relatively short running time meaning its over before you’ve even begun to unpick the song’s secrets. This leads to immediately hitting play again, to once more dive into the murky fog of its coda. The Cross requires multiple listens before it gives up something of itself. Once is nowhere near enough.
The Cross is out now on Anonymous Records.
Album Club is back with the finest selection of February’s releases for you.
Synapson (photo credit – artist’s Facebook page)
French duo Synapson produce clean-cut and pleasing deep house grooves flirting with texture and melody. Hide Away is a thumping house track boasting gorgeous Daft Punk-inspired electro-funk with a sleek vocal turn from Holly and a suave remix from Fred Falke.
Hide Away is hypnotic and silk-filtered disco that draws from 80’s R&B and East Coast dance with a retro bass groove and smooth-glide Rhodes keyboards giving a minimal drive and deep feel.
Top-notch production and expansive funk-soul fusion conjures the early 2000’s stylings of Shur-I-Kan, Office Gossip and Spirit Catcher ensuring Hide Away skims the periphery of smooth dance to fit as easily into post-club comedown territory as main room thumper.
Hide Away is out now on Parlophone Records.
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